‘Planning never stops’ for Burnley’s Dyche

Sean Dyche admits this season could give his Burnley squad more toughness going into next season after avoiding a relegation battle.

The Clarets were in the bottom three heading into the New Year and were a long way from the form which saw them finish seventh and qualify for the Europa League the previous campaign.

However, a storming second half of the season meant that they avoided a serious battle for relegation going into the last few weeks of the season, as Cardiff succumbed to the drop along with Fulham and Huddersfield.

It means Burnley will pay in the top flight for a fourth consecutive season for the first time in nearly half a century.

And, Dyche believes next year will be assisted by their struggles this time around as his squad have had to battle from adversity.

He said: ‘This club is going to have to fight all the time to be at the top level of football, but we’ve shown we can do it.

‘The thing is with life at Burnley, it’s stop, stand still and then restart.

‘It’s Burnley, not Barcelona and we have to find ways of getting points on the board.

‘The next one is never guaranteed from the last one and we are always looking to layer up strength, but it’s difficult.

‘The planning never stops because we obviously don’t have the finance that others have, so we constantly have to keep our ear to the ground and an eye on the market.’